Liberia: APRM Gets New Interim CEO

Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, former Prime Minister of Niger and Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Agency, was on Friday, July 4th, 2014 installed as Interim Chief Executive Officer of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Secretariat, succeeding Mr. Assefa Shifa who held the post ad interim since 2008.

Presiding over the handover ceremony was Hon. Amara M. Konneh, Liberia's Acting Minister of Finance and Development Planning and Chair of the Committee of APRM Focal Points, which directs the administration of the Mechanism. He thanked Dr. Mayaki for accepting the responsibility and, handing him a letter of appointment from H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and Chair of the APR Forum of Heads of State, assured him of the Focal Points' fullest support.

Addressing the APRM Secretariat staff, in their Midrand, South Africa office, Hon. Konneh thanked them for their service over the ten years of the APRM's existence, and urged them to apply new vigor to their work in order to restore vitality to the Mechanism. He also assured staff that outstanding issues relating to their contracts would be resolved in order to ensure job security and high performance.

Dr. Mayaki echoed Minister Konneh's appreciation for the staff's service and admonished them to apply their hearts and minds to the task before them. Amb. Ashraf Rashed, Vice-Chairperson of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons, also present, was frank in his calls for professionalism and higher productivity within the Secretariat.

Since assuming the Chairmanship of the APRM Forum, Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been working tirelessly through her Focal Point, Minister Konneh to reform the Mechanism and address a number of issues affecting the smooth operations of the continental Secretariat

The replacement of the interim CEO and the commencement of a recruitment process for a new permanent CEO and four divisional heads were key recommendations advanced by the Committee of Focal Points in its drive to reform the Secretariat.

This recommendation was adopted by the APR Forum of Heads of State on June 25th, during their 21stSummit,held on the margins of the African Union General Assembly, where President Sirleaf appointed Dr. Mayaki to act as ARPM CEO pending the appointment of a new CEO on 1stofJanuary 2015.

At same time, the African Union has adopted a resolution for the integration of the APRM in the AU system. The AU decision follows intense lobbying and outreach by Liberia's President and Chair of the APR Forum, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The African Union, over the past three years, has provided technical support to introduce and apply administrative processes and protocols and procedures to the Secretariat's operations.

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